Glenn Conway

Regulars from the Lake Waihola Cafe and Bar say they will probably stay home instead of meeting at another pub after their local was badly damaged by fire this week.

South Otago High School may not have its annual prizegiving for another few weeks but already some of its senior pupils are celebrating an achievement months, if not years, in the making.

The fate of one of Clutha's most strategic bridges could be decided within the next two years.

West Otago's biggest employer, Blue Mountain Lumber, which has endured several restructurings in recent years, will close its doors permanently tomorrow, with 45 staff out of work and fears dozens of other jobs linked to the plant could also go.

The taxpayer-funded price tag of boosting prisoner capacity at the Otago Corrections Facility (OCF) is $21.5 million, it was revealed yesterday.

A blaze at the Waihola Tavern, about 40km south of Dunedin, has left its co-owner Annette Reid "absolutely devastated''.

Petrol should be pumping again in Clinton by the end of next month but the township's existing service station building will be demolished to make way for a new shop set to open early next year.

The public will get its first chance to view plans developed for the proposed Clutha Recreation Centre at a meeting in Balclutha early next month.

The family of late poet Hone Tuwhare has confirmed plans had begun to establish a creative residency at the Kaka Point house he called home for more than 15 years.